Chances at Vanderbilt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

*Pretty long post but if you could read all of it I would be really thankful!

So I’ve taken the SAT three times (1940 - 2050 - 2070) but my super score is 2100

CR: 710
W: 710
M: 680

I will also be taking the ACT April 2016 and have not taken any SAT II’s yet but I plan on taking Math I/II, Biology, and History

The high school I go to is a 2015 Blue Ribbon School (won this award several times in past years as well) that was ranked the #5 top high school in NJ and #47 top high school in the US in 2014. It was ranked #3 in NJ and #31 in the US in 2015. Getting into this school requires a test consisting of math, reading, and essay writing, as well as an interview with the school itself. Around 600-700 students in all four grades in the school, at least a thousand people apply to it each year and only around 150 are chosen.

The school doesn’t give out rankings or class positions of any students to any school.

UW GPA up to 2nd marking period of junior year: 3.366/4 (upward trend)

GPA will probably be the weakest part of my application next year although my counselor said that schools will know that our high school is very rigorous and top-ranked and judge the GPA accordingly.

Another thing our school does is when you apply you have to pick one of several programs they offer (fashion, law & justice, computer science, digital media, etc) and then take classes on it throughout your four years of high school like a college major, the program I chose and got accepted to was computer science.

We also have projects (kind of like electives: microcontrollers, 911 cooking, documentaries, SAT prep, etc) every Wednesday for 1.5 hours where you take a class on your chosen project and do activities focusing on it.

Freshman year schedule:

Algebra 1 Honors (93 average)
English 1 Honors (90 average)
Geometry Honors (85 average)
Intro to Object-Orientated Design (96 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
Physics Honors (89 average - all my marking period grades were A- or A, the final brought it down to 89)
Social Issues (93 average)
Spanish 1 (83 average)
World Cultures Honors (90 average)
Project School Climate (100 average)
Project Microcontrollers (98 average)

  • Our school offers no AP classes for freshmen

Sophomore year schedule:

Chemistry Honors (82 average)
Drivers Ed (93 average)
English II Honors (83 average - you need a 90 minimum in this class to take AP Lang junior year but my english teacher wrote me a recommendation to get into AP Lang since she believed I would be a good match for that class)
Intermediate Programming (94 average)
Math Analysis 1 Honors (basically pre-calc, 79 average)
Networking 1 (92 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
AP Physics 1 (79 average + 1 on the AP Exam)
Spanish II (77 average)
Project Spanish (95 average)
Project Cooking (95 average)

  • The only AP you could take sophomore year was AP Physics 1 if you postponed US History (which I did) and AP Government if you were in the Law & Justice program (I wasn't).
  • Sophomore year was my weakest year ever since I was required to take Spanish II (I can't do well in this class no matter how much I study) and all the time I spent studying for AP Physics 1 which ended up being a waste anyways. This year my GPA dropped to between 3.1 - 3.2 average for the two years and I've been using junior (and hopefully senior) year to bring it back up.

Junior year schedule (current year):

AP Lang (86 average so far)
US History 1 Honors (89 average so far)
AP Environmental Science (90 average so far)
Networking II (96 average so far)
Advanced Programming (97 average so far)
Math Analysis II Honors (88 average so far)
Biology Honors (92 average so far)
Physical Education (100 average so far)
First Aid (98 average)
Project Documentaries (95 average)
Project Documentaries 2 (95 average so far)

Senior year projected schedule:
AP Lit
AP US History
Cloud Computing
*Computer science class that hasn’t been determined yet
AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics
AP Biology
Physical Education
Family Planning
Entrepreneurship (easy boast to GPA) or Spanish III or Art (required to graduate)

  • Senior year we are also required to get an internship so I will be interning as well, on Wednesdays we go to our internships instead of school.

Extra Curriculars:
-JV Bowling (Varsity next year)
-Chemistry Club (10th grade)
-Physics Club (10,11)
-Computer Club (9,10,11)
-Turkish Cultural Center Tutor (6,7,8,9,10)
-Founding Member of Lemon Club (our schools chapter of the ALS Foundation)

Leadership Positions:
-Founder and President of C3 Club (11) - We’ve collected over 1000 books for students in low-income areas so far and over the summer we hope to turn it into a non-profit organization or open a chapter of it in another school.
-Founder of a neighborhood book club (10,11) - Weekly meetings with kids in the neighborhood where we read books together and I help them with their hw and classes
-Founder, Owner, and Editor of a book blog (9,10,11) - Started a book blog back in freshman year where I review books and interact with the book community, over 15,000 pageviews and thousands of followers in total over the blog and social media. I talk regularly with book publishers and get sent copies of books to read and review for them and I have attended multiple book events in three different states as well as BEA 2015.

Volunteering:
-At least 200-300 hours of volunteering already
-Volunteered at two relief foundations (9,10,11)
-Traveled to Haiti as a Relief Volunteer (10)
-Volunteered at local library (10,11)
-Volunteered in several cities in Turkey with a relief foundation

Work Experience:
-Working at Kumon since October 2015 (11) - tutoring and grading
-Possibly going to work at MEK starting in April

Other:
-Accepted to Harvard Summer School for the summer of 2016

Awards:
-Got my essays published in Creative Communications’ essay contests two times
-Lots of awards in middle school but only a couple of minor ones in high school

*My family is Turkish (mom and dad graduated from Turkish universities for mining engineering and chemical engineering and came to America in 1998)
*I speak two languages: English and Turkish although I can read Arabic as well
*Dual citizenship (America and Turkey)
*Religion (Islam)
*Income: Between $60,000 and $95,000 yearly (not sure of exact number)

Recommendations:

  • Guidance Counselor (expecting a really good one, I’ve been constantly talking with him since freshman year and I feel like he has gotten to know me pretty well and has helped me a lot)
  • AP Environmental Science teacher (Bachelors at Swarthmore College and Masters at Columbia University)
  • AP Lang teacher (not sure about what school she went to but she’s been pretty involved in the club I made)

Next Year Goals:

By the time I apply to schools my UW GPA will be up to 3.4-3.5/4, I will hopefully have a higher ACT than my 2100 SAT, get into National Honor Society, possibly turn my school club into a non-profit organization (already working on this with several people who said they can help)/start chapters of it in other schools, and travel to at least one more country for volunteering (South America most likely). Additionally, I have the option of going to Rutgers/NYU and taking a Turkish course there for school credits - as I already know Turkish this would be easy enough to pass but would it add anything to my application?

Thank you so much for reading guys! Please tell me what you think my chances are, things I should improve/focus on, my strengths/weaknesses, etc

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I’d be surprised if you didn’t get in.

3

@welphereigo Really? I was worried about my GPA mostly as it seems to be the weakest part of my application.

-Also someone else told me that I would be able to get in only if I can boost my SAT 1 to 2350+ and win a significant award or two before submitting my application via ED or ED II.

I doubt I can increase past the 2100 I have right now, win any huge awards, and I’m not planning on doing ED

4

I’m a current Vandy student and your profile is far more impressive and interesting than a lot of students here. Yeah, the SAT isn’t the best but you definitely don’t need a 2350+. I’d say 2200+ is ideal. Furthermore, I’d be cautious ED’ing. Only do it if you actually know the school and love every part of it. I made the mistake of ED’ing and now I’m transferring out.

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@welphereigo Is there anyone that you know there who has a similar GPA or SAT? I haven’t visited the Vanderbilt campus so I don’t have that much personal experience with the school which is why I don’t want to ED.

Also if you don’t mind sharing, what school are you transferring to?

6

Totally. Lots of kids who really don’t impress me, and you’re impressive.

Applied to MIT, brown, upenn, Swarthmore, Haverford.

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@welphereigo oh wow, the way other people said it I would have a hard time getting in instead of even a decent or good chance. I feel much better now about my chances, thank you and good luck with your applications to those schools (MIT is my dream school :D)!

8

SAT and GPA are low for vandy, but you seem interesting. You have a chance, but you definitely need to try to fix your grades and study for the ACT! Good luck and I hope I see you in 2017 :slight_smile:

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Agree with XCjunior2016. Do you have a chance? Yes. But your non-hooked SAT+GPA will be a big hinderance at a school trying to aggressively move up in the rankings. You’ll probably have a lot of luck at truly hollistic schools like Rochester, USC, Tufts, etc. and probably receive some nice aid from them.

To say that you have a “great” chance might be a bit misleading. A “great” chance implies that your odds of acceptance are significantly over 50%. The acceptance rate will be <10% soon for a reason. Your ECs are HPYSMC tier but I couldn’t say the same for the rest of your app. Show them some love, put a lot of time into your app and show some quality interest and anything could happen.

Good luck.

10

@Alundari Pardon me, but you mentioned Rochester, USC and Tufts in your comment and I was wondering what other schools get “lumped” into that pile? I love Tufts, but should probably look to expand my list a bit and wanted to know what schools are “similar”.

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Those are the really good, big name schools that are hollistic. Almost all of the LACs are very hollistic as well, even the elite ones, and will definitely give you more than the typical 10-15 minutes of application viewing time.

If you want big, good hollistic schools, hmm…
Tulane, Lehigh, Rice, Notre Dame, Emory.

You can try these schools if you want. I don’t think any of them are as well suited to you as Rochester, USC, or Tufts though. You could also get rejected by any of the schools above so think hard about sending in an ED if you wish to go that route.

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@Alundari I wish ED wasn’t so risky where you can only send it one school, while I love/like all those schools; I still want to use my ED on NYU as I absolutely love that school above all others